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The Inauguration of Rabbi Daniel L. Lehman, Eighth President of the Graduate Theological Union, will be held at:
International House at University of California, Berkeley
2299 Piedmont Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94720
(see map below)
Parking is available at the Stadium Parking Garage:
2175 Gayley Rd, Berkeley, CA 94720
(One block north of the International House)
Metered street parking is free after 6 pm.
If you arrive by car service or taxi you may be dropped off at the North entrance to International House, just beyond the main entrance.
If you are traveling by public transportation,...

The August 2016 edition of the GTU’s Insight email newsletter is out, featuring short stories about…
The Sylvia Ludins Art Exhibition at the GTU Library
A Remembering of DSPT’s Father Michael Morris
A Cover Feature about the GTU in In Trust Magazine
BJRT’s Special Issue honoring Arthur Holder and Judith Berling
Naomi Seidman’s New Book, The Marriage Plot
Read the August 2016 Insight here. Each month, Insight draws attention to top news from the GTU and its member schools, academic centers, and affiliates. Use the form to the right to have each monthly edition emailed directly...

Berkeley, CA – October 3, 2018 The Center for the Arts & Religion at the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) celebrates the publication of Gestures to the Divine: Reflections on Eco-Spirituality, a book that brings together the nature-focused artwork of Hagit Cohen and reflections on eco-spirituality by scholars from the GTU. The release accompanies the exhibition of Cohen’s work at the GTU’s Doug Adams Gallery in Berkeley through December 13, 2018.
Hagit Cohen’s minimalist prints of plant seeds and pods inspire awe and contemplation. As she explains, “nothing is too small to be the object of...

From the Fall 2016 issue of Currents, view PDF
By Elizabeth S. Peña
Picturing things, taking a view, is what makes us human; art is making sense and giving shape to that sense. It is like the religious search for God. —Gerhard Richter
The arts—literature, dance, music, and the visual arts—enhance religious experience and evoke transcendence. Artistic expression often provides common ground for scholars and practitioners representing a wide variety of faith traditions. In the classroom the arts offer entry into complex concepts and philosophies. These are just a few of the reasons why the...

For immediate release, January 28, 2016The Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies (CJS) at the Graduate Theological Union is pleased to welcome Dr. Deena Aranoff as the Center’s new director. Dr. Aranoff, who has worked with CJS and served on the GTU faculty since 2006, takes over the role from Dr. Naomi Seidman, who served as CJS director for the previous 16 years. Dr. Seidman will continue to work with CJS and its students as the Graduate Theological Union’s Koret Professor of Jewish Literature.
Dr. Aranoff, whose teaching specialties include rabbinic literature and medieval Jewish...

From the President
June 2012
Dear Friends,
In September of 1962, visionaries from differing Christian traditions came together to form the Graduate Theological Union in order that they might accomplish more together than separately.
When I did my doctoral work in ethics at the GTU in the early ’80s, and in my teaching years after that, we leaned on the perspectives of thinkers who had gone before. Certainly ethicists have always asked the normative questions about what is right and good. That hasn’t changed. But our scholarly analysis in the Christian tradition then was primarily drawn...

For immediate release, April 7, 2016
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has announced that Dr. Naomi Seidman, Koret Professor of Jewish Culture at the Graduate Theological Union, has received a Guggenheim Fellowship for 2016. Dr. Seidman is among a diverse group of 178 scholars, artists, and scientists selected to receive the prestigious award this year; Fellows for 2016 were chosen from a field of nearly 3,000 applicants.
The Fellowship, granted for Dr. Seidman’s work in the field of literary criticism, will support development of her upcoming book, tentatively titled The Navel of...

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Flora Lamson Hewlett and the Hewlett Family
The Library serves as the academic core and the physical center of the shared effort that comprises the GTU. The building remains an architectural gem, serving all students of the consortium and members of wider community. This critical building would not have been possible without the lead gift from the Hewlett Family Foundation in honor of Flora Lamson Hewlett.
Flora Lamson Hewlett was born in 1914. She graduated from UC Berkeley in 1935 with a degree in...

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John Dillenberger (Dean ‘63-‘69, President ‘67-‘71)
John Dillenberger was integral to the GTU’s creation. Born in 1918, he was a Dean of the Faculty at San Francisco Theological Seminary. He served as the GTU’s dean from 1964 to 1969 and as its first president from 1967 to 1972. He would later serve again as Acting President from 1999-2000. He also served the GTU as Acting Library Director. At the GTU, he was a professor of historical theology, particularly interested in the history of science. Much of his academic...

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Bishop John Cummins
John Stephen Cummins, a native to Berkeley, was born in 1928 to Irish immigrants. He began to study for the priesthood at St. Joseph’s College in Mountainview, California, graduating in 1949. He attended seminary at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California, graduating in 1953 with an MDiv.
He was ordained in 1953 and began to serve at Mission Dolores Basilica in San Francisco. His brother Bernard also became a priest and would later become superintendent of the schools...

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John Weiser
John has been involved with the GTU since 1998, and was Chairman of our Board of Trustees from 1999 to 2007. Among his many efforts to ensure the GTU’s academic, programmatic, administrative, and financial success, he endowed a Presidential Scholarship, and helped launch the capital campaign with a major gift; helped draft the Common Agreement between member schools and the GTU; and spearheaded the committee to find GTU President James A. Donahue. He embodied the GTU’s interfaith mission by creating an...

Support our exhibitions, courses, and other programs by becoming a CARe Member!
For a tax-deductible donation of $100 or more, benefits include:
​Free admission to members-only previews and receptions
Invitations to special lectures, parties, and tours
Discounts on selected local arts-related programs
Monthly updates via the CARe Members’ newsletter
Membership to the North American Reciprocal Museum Association, giving you and a friend free admission to over 1000 museums around the country, many in the Bay Area
A beautiful catalog from our Fall exhibition, Beyond Words: Art Inspired...

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Glenn R. Bucher (President ’92-’99)
Glenn Bucher was President of the Graduate Theological Union from 1992 to 1999. He received a Bachelor of Arts in economics and philosophy from Elizabethtown College, the M.Div. from Union Theological Seminary and the Ph.D. in the sociology of religion from Boston University. From 1999-2005 he was Executive Director of The Boyer Center at Messiah College. Previously, Dean of Faculty at The College of Wooster and Professor of Religious Studies at Howard University (...

From Skylight Magazine, Fall 2017
Art galleries on the GTU campus give students, faculty, staff, and guests the chance for a contemplative experience among the press of academia. Art can be both relaxing and stimulating. It offers the opportunity for both private meditation and for connection with community. A visit to the art gallery draws out our personal stories, as we experience the art in our own ways.
While many GTU member schools display artwork, changing exhibitions can be found at CARe’s Doug Adams Gallery, at the GTU Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, and at the Blackfriars Gallery at...

From the Spring 2018 issue of SKYLIGHTSee a PDF of this article
In 1964, just two years after the founding of the Graduate Theological Union as a partnership of Christian seminaries, the school’s dean, John Dillenberger, approached the Conservative and Reform Movements to share his interest in establishing Jewish Studies on campus “to stand in its own right in relation to other studies, and not just as an adjunct to Protestant studies.” The radical vision of the early GTU is well reflected in its desire to establish a home for Jewish studies supported rather than constrained by its...

Many, many people were instrumental to the success of the GTU during its first 50 years. The GTU created this space in 2012 to honor the contributions of the most seminal figures of the GTU's first half-decade.
You can also view key figures in GTU history by decade:
1962-69 | 1970-79 | 1980-89 | 1990-99 | 2000-2012
In addition, for our 50th anniversary in 2012, each member school choose one person who embodies the spirit of the GTU to be recognized for a lifetime of contributions in service of the GTU.
John Dillenberger (Dean ‘63-‘69, President ‘67-‘71)
John Dillenberger was...

This timeline, created in celebration of the GTU's 50th anniversary in 2012, highlights the milestones in the GTU story and notable figures who played a unique role in shaping the path of the GTU during its first 50 years.

An institution of higher learning unlike any other, the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley brings together scholars of the world’s diverse religions and wisdom traditions to advance new knowledge, share inspiration, and collaborate on solutions.